Cops: Riverhead man arrested on weapons charge after chase and standoff at his home

A Riverhead man brandishing a shotgun was arrested at his home after a police chase and a brief standoff late last night, Riverhead town Police said in a press release.

Police said at about 11:30 last night they received a report of a man operating a quad in the area of the Elks Lodge on East Main Street while brandishing a shotgun. Responding officers were met in the Elks Lodge parking lot by serval witnesses who told police they knew who the man was and that he’d fled the area on the quad, according to the police report. The witnesses told police the man might be headed toward his residence on Fanning Street.

Patrol units located the man, identified by police as Paul T. Jackson, 47, operating the quad in the area of Fanning Street a short time later and attempted to get him to stop, according to the report.

Jackson, still in possession of the shotgun, refused to stop and refused repeated commands to drop the firearm, police said. He instead ran into the home at 48 Fanning Street and refused to come out, police said.

Numerous officers, including units from the New York State Police barracks in Riverside, responded to the area and were able to get the subject to surrender a short time later, according to the report.

Jackson, of 48 Fanning Street, was placed under arrest without further incident and transported to the Riverhead Police Department, where he was held pending arraignment on a number of charges including criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, police said. The shotgun in question was recovered within the residence and the quad was impounded from the location, according to the report.

Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.